Invasive species are nothing new. Neither is eating them, as anyone who’s eaten Cambodian water spinach — much of it grown here in Houston — will tell you. But bringing in water spinach from Cambodia and growing it for profit (despite its status over here as a noxious weed) is entirely different from eating species [...]
A new NOAA research report finds that both fish populations and commercial and recreational anglers have benefited from “no-take” protections in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The report, “An Integrated Biogeographic Assessment of Reef Fish Populations and Fisheries in Dry Tortugas: Effects of No-take Reserves,” is the first to [...]
A recent study demonstrates a new approach that may allow scientists to better approximate the risks for bacteria to develop resistance to different families of antibiotics. In the study, conducted by NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, resistance genes from E. [...]
While fishing in about 10 feet of water on the hard-bottom reef patches just 200 yards from shore near the Ritz Carlton, Mike Damanski confirmed the inevitable when something unexpected showed up on the end of his line. Damanski, who was out fishing with his mom and some friends for his birthday last week, landed [...]
Back in July, scientists from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) issued the first-ever seasonal harmful algal bloom (HAB) forecast for western Lake Erie at a press event at Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory. Now, with the 2012 HABs season over, Dr. Jeff Reutter reflects on the successful prediction and looks ahead [...]
As a student in Port Aransas, Nancy Rabalais never had money, but she always had the sea. “Fish and oysters, crabs — whatever we needed we could always get something to eat somehow,” she said. “Plus it was fun to get them.” Her lifelong affinity and stewardship for the marine environment was recognized this fall [...]
Some homes in the United States still teem with potentially dangerous chemicals that were banned years ago, researchers have found. And they’re coming from the most comfortable seat in the house. For example, the flame retardant PentaBDE, which belongs to a group of compounds called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and was used to make sofas [...]
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s DOOM lab (Dissolved Oxygen and Oyster Mortality) is examining how oysters respond to sudden drops in oxygen levels in shallow parts of the Chesapeake Bay at night. These fluctuations are partially natural, but appear to be made worse by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. Oxygen depletion may make oysters more susceptible [...]